Learning method and system that consider a student&#39;s concentration level

ABSTRACT

A computer-aided-educational method and system that consider a student&#39;s concentration level when teaching the student. The system monitors automatically more than once the student&#39;s concentration-sensitive behavior while the student is working on the study materials. Through monitoring the student&#39;s volitional or involuntary behavior, the system provides an indication on the student&#39;s concentration level. Based on the indication, the system could react accordingly. Reactions include, for example, providing rewards, punishments, and stimulation; or changing the study materials. The system can also react by asking the student a question to stimulate the student or to assess the student&#39;s understanding level. Based on the student&#39;s response, the system may change to more appropriate study materials, or presentation style.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to education, and moreparticularly to considering a student's concentration level in teachingthe student through a computer.

[0002] Both at home and in schools, the computer is gradually becoming amajor medium for education. There are many different reasons for thistrend. One is the tremendous reduction in the price of a computer,causing it to permeate into almost every household. Though the price ofa computer has been dropping, its computation and memory capacity haveincreased many folds, leading to computer programs with significantlymore intelligence and improved user-friendliness. Another reason is thata computer-aided-education system can be very personalized; it can betailored to the strengths and weaknesses of individual students. This isvery hard to achieve in today's educational environment, in part due tothe increase in the students-per-instructor ratio.

[0003] One weakness of a computer-aided-educational system is that ittypically ignores a student's concentration level. In contrast, a goodinstructor teaches according to the student's attention span. She cansense whether or not the student is paying attention. Normally, sheattributes her sensitivity to her “intuition,” based on years of herteaching experience. One “intuition” is that when the student's pupilsstart to dilate, the student has lost focus. Another “intuition” is thatwhen the student frowns, he is concentrating. Such “intuition” is veryuseful in teaching. A good instructor constantly observes suchconcentration-sensitive behavior, and dynamically adjusts her teachingmaterials and style accordingly. If most of the students are lookingelsewhere instead of at her for a certain period of time, the instructormight stop teaching and tell a joke. This helps the students re-focusback at the instructor. If a student is drooping, the instructor mightdirectly ask her a question to “wake her up.” Such important “intuition”is missing in today's computer-aided-educational systems.

[0004] It should be apparent from the foregoing that there is a need fora computer-aided-educational system and method that consider thestudent's concentration level, while the student is working on thestudy-materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention provides a computer-aided-educationalsystem and method that automatically consider a student'sconcentration-sensitive behavior while the student is working on thestudy materials.

[0006] In one embodiment, the present invention includes a presenter, anon-intrusive sensor, a controller and an indicator. The presenterpresents study materials on a subject to the student; the non-intrusivesensor automatically monitors more than once the student'sconcentration-sensitive behavior while the student is working on thematerials; the controller analyzes the student's concentration-sensitivebehavior based on one or more rules; and the indicator provides anindication on the student's concentration level based on the analysis.In another embodiment, the present invention reacts according to theindication.

[0007] There are a number of examples of the concentration-sensitivebehavior that the sensor can monitor. In one embodiment, the sensormonitors the student's volitional behavior, such as his inputs into thecomputer, his facial expressions, his facial orientations and his eves.In another embodiment, the sensor monitors the student's involuntarybehavior, such as the sizes of his pupils.

[0008] The controller analyzes one or more of the above behavior basedon one or more rules. These rules are similar to the instructor's“intuition.” For example, one rule is as follows: The student has lostconcentration in the study materials if for a predetermined period oftime, the student's inputs through a mouse have been in a window thatdoes not contain study materials. Another rule is that if the student isnot looking at the monitor showing the study materials for apredetermined period of time, the student has lost concentration in thestudy materials. From the analysis, the system provides an indication onthe student's concentration level.

[0009] Based on the indication, the system could react accordingly.Different reactions are applicable. Some examples include rewards,punishments, stimulation, and changing the study materials.

[0010] In another embodiment, due to the indication, the system asks thestudent a question, which can stimulate the student and can assess thestudent's understanding level in the study materials. From the student'sresponse to the question, the system may change to more appropriatestudy materials and/or presentation style.

[0011] The question-asking approach in the above embodiment does nothave to be a reaction to the indication. In one embodiment, as thesystem is presenting study materials to the student, unexpected by thestudent, the system asks the student a question. After the studentresponds to the question, the system resumes back to present studymaterials to the student. In such an embodiment, the question tends toincrease the concentration level of the student in the study materials.

[0012] In yet another embodiment, the present invention also includes acalibrator, which calibrates the student's concentration-sensitivebehavior before the behavior is being monitored to show concentration.One type of calibration establishes the student's behavior when thestudent is paying attention, and compares it with the student's behaviorwhen the student is working on the study materials. Calibrationtypically improves the accuracy of the system.

[0013] Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, which, when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrates by way ofexample the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014]FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] FIGS. 2A-B show one embodiment of a system implementing thepresent invention.

[0016]FIG. 3 shows a set of steps to implement one embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0017]FIG. 4 shows examples of volitional behavior monitored by thesensor in the present invention.

[0018]FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Same numerals in FIGS. 1-5 are assigned to similar elements inall the figures. Embodiments of the invention are discussed below withreference to FIGS. 1-5. However, those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect tothese figures is for explanatory purposes as the invention extendsbeyond these limited embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020]FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a computer-aided-educational system100 of the present invention. As an overview of some of its components,the system 100 includes a selector 102, which selects study materialsfrom a study-materials storage medium 108 to be presented to a studentthrough a presenter 106. While the student is working on the studymaterials, a non-intrusive sensor 110 monitors the student'sconcentration-sensitive behavior, and sends its results back to acontroller 104. Then the controller 104 based on one or more rules froma rules storage medium 112 analyzes the monitored results to providethrough an indicator 114, an indication on the student's concentrationlevel. In another embodiment, the selector is 102 also connected to thecontroller 104 to keep track of the study materials presented to thestudent.

[0021]FIG. 2A shows one embodiment of a system 150 implementing thepresent invention, preferably in software and hardware. The system 150includes a server computer 152 and a number of client computers, such as154, which can be a personal computer. Each client computer communicatesto the server computer 152 through a dedicated communication link, or acomputer network 156.

[0022]FIG. 2B shows one embodiment of a client computer 154. Ittypically includes a bus 159 connecting a number of components, such asa processing unit 160, a main memory 162, an I/O controller 164, aperipheral controller 166, a graphics adapter 168 and a networkinterface adapter 170. The I/O controller 164 is connected tocomponents, such as a harddisk drive 172 and a floppy disk drive 174.The peripheral controller 166 is connected to peripheral components,such as a keyboard 176, a mouse 182, and a digital camera 180. Thegraphics adapter 168 is connected to a monitor 178; and the networkinterface adapter 170 is connected to the network 120. The network canbe the Internet, an intranet, the world wide web and other forms ofnetworks.

[0023] Different components of the present invention can be in differentelements shown in FIGS. 2A-B. For example, the presenter 106 and thesensor 110 can be in a client computer; the selector 102, the controller104, the study-materials storage medium 108, the rules storage medium112 and the indicator 114 can be in the server computer 152. In anotherembodiment, the selector 102, the controller 104 and the indicator 114are also in a client computer. Different components can be in differentelements in the above description. Nonetheless, there is no restrictionpreventing all components to reside in one element, such as a clientcomputer. A number of operations in the present invention can beimplemented by software, which is controlled, for example, by theprocessing unit 160. In yet another embodiment, the number of operationsimplemented by software can be stored in a storage-medium, which can be,for example, the main memory 162 or a CD read-only-memory.

[0024] The present invention is applicable to teach any subject ormaterials that can be taught by a computer. The teaching period may lastone semester or a year, or just one class session. The materials maycover inter-disciplinary areas, such as electrical engineering andthermodynamics, or computer networking and programming techniques. Thematerials may just be for training a field engineer on a new product. Inthe following, mathematics is the subject used to illustrate the presentinvention.

[0025] In one embodiment, the subject is divided into major-topics, witheach major-topic subdivided into minor-topics, and with each minor-topicfurther subdivided into line-items. Each line-item typically covers onewell-defined area in the subject. In another embodiment, the subject isfurther divided into more levels below the line-items; and in a thirdembodiment, the subject is just divided into line-items.

[0026] As an example of line-items, if the major-topic is high schoolalgebra, then it can be divided into the following line-items, withbracketed terms served as comments:

[0027] High School Algebra (the major-topic)

[0028] (Minor-topics under the major-topic)

[0029] Decimal Numbers

[0030] Polynomials

[0031] Linear Equations

[0032] Quadratic Equations

[0033] . . .

[0034] Integers

[0035] (Line-items under the minor-topic of integers)

[0036] Addition & Subtraction (Difficulty level 1)

[0037] Multiplication (Difficulty level 2)

[0038] Division (Difficulty level 2)

[0039] Prime Numbers (Difficulty level 3)

[0040] Factorization (Difficulty level 3)

[0041] Common Divisor (Difficulty level 4)

[0042] . . .

[0043] Fractions

[0044] (Line-items under the minor-topic of fractions)

[0045] Addition & Subtraction (+/−) with Common Denominator (Difficultylevel 3)

[0046] +/− with Integers (Difficulty level 4)

[0047] +/− without Common Denominator (Difficulty level 5)

[0048] Multiplication and Divisions (*,/) with Integers (Difficultylevel 5)

[0049] *,/ with fraction (Difficulty level 6)

[0050] Compound Fractions (Difficulty level 6)

[0051] Fraction Reduction (Difficulty level 7)

[0052] Ratios and Proportions (Difficulty level 7)

[0053] . . .

[0054] Another example with the minor topic being differential calculusis as follows:

[0055] Calculus (major topic)

[0056] Differential calculus (minor topic)

[0057] Fractions (Difficulty level 1)

[0058] Polynomials (Difficulty level 1)

[0059] Exponential Functions (Difficulty level 1)

[0060] Differentiation (Difficulty level 2)

[0061] Differentiate a sum (Difficulty level 3)

[0062] Differentiate a product (Difficulty level 3)

[0063] Differentiate a quotient (Difficulty level 4)

[0064] In one embodiment, each line-item has a difficulty level. Thebracketed difficulty level next to each line-item in the above exampleindicates how difficult one line-item is relative to other line-items inthe subject, or how significant one is relative to another. A line-itemwith a low difficulty level is a relatively easy line-item or arelatively less important line-item. Typically, a student learning asubject starts from learning line-items at the lowest difficulty level.

[0065] The lists of items in the above examples are generated based onexpert knowledge on the subject of mathematics. With the properinstruction, such as through reading the present specification,generating such lists with the difficulty levels should be obvious toexperts in the subject. The more knowledgeable the expert, the morecomplete the sets of items.

[0066] In one embodiment, each line-item is represented by a line-itemroot, which includes the line item and its root. In the above example,the root of a line-item includes its subject, its major topic and minortopic.

[0067] In one embodiment, the selector 102 starts the learning processby selecting a line-item with the lowest difficulty level. If there area number of those, one of them is randomly selected. Study materials forthat line-item are retrieved from the study-materials storage medium 108to be presented to the student. After presentation, the selector 102selects another line-item with the lowest difficulty level among all theun-selected line-items, and the process repeats. For this embodiment,each line-item also includes a mode attribute, which is changed from theun-selected to the selected mode after the study materials for thatline-item has been selected to be worked on by the student.

[0068] To select a set of study materials from the study-materialstorage medium 108, the selector 102 sends the line-item root to thestorage medium 108 to retrieve the corresponding study materials.Typically, there are a number of sets of study materials in thestorage-medium 108, and they can be in the following format:

[0069] (line-item root, mode, study materials)

[0070] The following serves as examples of study materials fordifferentiating polynomial:

[0071] First, the system teaches the approach to generate derivativesbased on the basic principle in differentiation, such as:

df(x)/dx=lim _(h→0)((f(x+h)−f(x))/h)

[0072] Then the system teaches the generalized equation, such as:

((dΣa _(i) x ^(i))/dx)=(Σi*a _(i) x ^(i−1))

[0073] Finally, the system teaches the importance of and the way to findoptima and minima by solving the following equation:

((dΣa _(i) x ^(i))/dx)=0

[0074] Based on the line-item root, and with one set of study materialsper line-item, the selector 102 retrieves from the study-materialsstorage-medium 108, the corresponding set of study materials. Creatingstudy materials on a subject should be obvious to experts in thesubject, and will not be further discussed in this application.

[0075] The selector 102 then sends the retrieved study materials to thepresenter 106. The study materials can be a document with no questions,arranged as a list of screens. The presenter 106 typically includes themonitor 178, which presents the study materials to the student, who cango from one screen to another with the keyboard 176, or the mouse 182.In another embodiment, the study materials are broadcast through aradio. As the student is working on the study materials presentedthrough the radio, the student's concentration-sensitive behavior ismonitored automatically.

[0076] In another embodiment, the study materials only have questions.Typically, students gain a better understanding on a subject throughactively working on questions than through passively reading studymaterials. In one embodiment, each question is embedded in a questionentry, which is of the following format:

[0077] (line-item root, mode, question-body, answer).

[0078] The term “question-body” describes the body of a question. Thefollowing serves as an example:

[0079] Subject: Mathematics.

[0080] Major-topic: High School Algebra.

[0081] Minor-topic: Fraction.

[0082] Line-item: +/− with common denominator

[0083] Mode: Un-selected Answer Question-body 28/37 What is the sum of2/37, 3/37, 8/37 and 15/37? −2/43 17/43 − 25/43 + 6/43 = ?

[0084] The selector 102 sends to the study-materials storage medium 108the line-item root to retrieve the set of questions with the sameline-item root.

[0085] An example of study materials with questions are for theline-item of differentiating exponential functions. A number ofquestions are generated, including the question on expanding anexponential function based on Taylor expansion, the question ondifferentiating the Taylor-expanded exponential function, whose answeris the original Taylor-expanded exponential function, and the questionon differentiating the exponential function, whose answer is theexponential function.

[0086] In another embodiment, the study materials include studymaterials with questions and study materials without questions.

[0087] Note that the formats of the study materials may change as thestudent progresses. The student can learn one line-item based onquestions, and another based on study materials with no questions. As anexample, for differential calculus, of the different line-items, all ofthem can be learnt through either study materials with or withoutquestions, except for the line-item of differentiation, which istypically learnt without questions. That study-materials cover thegeneral differentiation concept, such as the following:

df(x)/dx=lim _(h→0)((f(x+h)−f(x))/h)

[0088]FIG. 3 shows a set of steps 250 to implement one embodiment of thepresent invention. First, the presenter 106 presents (step 252) theselected study materials to the student. As the student is working onthe study materials, the sensor 110 monitors (step 254) more than oncethe student's concentration-sensitive behavior, and feeds thosemonitored results to the controller. The controller 104 analyzes (step256) the results based on one or more rules to provide (step 258) anindication on the student's concentration. Based on the indication, thesystem reacts (step 260) accordingly.

[0089] A type of concentration-sensitive behavior is a type of behaviorthat is sensitive to one's concentration. As one's concentrationchanges, such a type of behavior changes accordingly. The behavior canbe physical, psychological, biological, emotional and physiological.

[0090] In the step of monitoring (step 254), the sensor automaticallymonitors more than once the student's concentration-sensitive behaviorwhile the student is working on the study materials. Instead of justmonitoring once to determine concentration level, monitoring more thanonce increases the accuracy in determining the student's concentrationlevel. For example, a student is concentrating on the study materials. Amosquito lands on the back of his right hand. As the student is tryingto hit the mosquito, the system monitors him. The indication based onthat image alone is a correct indication of the student's concentrationlevel in the study materials at that specific instant. However, thesingle measurement is not a good indication of the student's actualconcentration level in the study materials—that single measurement is anoutlying point that should be deleted. Instead of just one singleresult, this embodiment monitors more than once the student's behavior,which enhances identifying a pattern to eliminate outlying points.

[0091] The monitoring step does not have to stop after monitoring twice.The monitoring step can continue in a periodic manner, such as onceevery two seconds. In the embodiments of monitoring more than once ormonitoring periodically, the results can be analyzed to identifypatterns.

[0092] The behavior monitored more than once can be of the same type, orcan be of different types. In one embodiment, in monitoring more thanonce, the sensor monitors the same type of behavior each time. Inanother embodiment, in monitoring more than once, the sensor monitorsmore than one type of behavior; for example, a first monitoring processis on one type of behavior, and a second monitoring process is onanother type of behavior. In monitoring more than one type of behavior,the sensor may include more than one type of sensor, which can monitormore than one type of behavior substantially simultaneously. Monitoringmore than one type of behavior is similar to monitoring one type ofbehavior more than once, in the sense that both approaches increase theaccuracy in determining the student's concentration level.

[0093]FIG. 4 shows examples of different types ofconcentration-sensitive behavior, which are volitional 300. In oneembodiment, the sensor 110 monitors the student's volitional inputsentered into the computer (box 302). One type of volitional inputs isentered through the keyboard 176 or the mouse 182. The study materialscan be presented to the student through the monitor 178. As the studentworks on the study materials, he enters commands through the keyboard176 or a position-pointing device, such as the mouse 182, or arrowbuttons of the keyboard 176. The inputs may be the downward or upwardarrows on the keyboard or the mouse, or may be the typing speed throughthe keyboard.

[0094] In one embodiment, the sensor 110 monitors the speed of inputs bythe student as a function of time. There are different ways to monitorthe speed of inputs, such as polling periodically the correspondingdevices of those inputs. Such monitoring process should be obvious tothose skilled in the art, and will not be further described.

[0095] As the student starts working on the study materials, the inputsare entered at a certain speed. As the student gets tired, or as thestudent loses concentration, this speed typically decreases. In thisembodiment, the student's input speed is compared with a reference speedto identify changes.

[0096] There are a number of methods to determine the reference speed.In one embodiment, this reference speed is set through randomly samplingmany students. Based on the students' responses on similar studymaterials, a reference speed is determined. In another embodiment, thestudent's initial speed becomes the reference speed. This initial speedmay be found for example by averaging the student's speed across fiveminutes, such as from the first one minute to the first six minutes ofthe student's usage.

[0097] Different types of study materials typically have differentreference speeds. For example, if the study materials include nopictures, the input speed may be slow because the student has to read anentire screen of text. If the student has to compose a sentence, thespeed is likely to have frequent short pauses because the student has tothink to compose the sentence. To accommodate such variations, in oneembodiment, the reference speed is a function of the difficulty level ofthe study materials. As the student progresses in working on the studymaterials, the difficulty level of the study materials typicallyincreases. In one embodiment, the reference speed is divided by thefollowing factor:

(The difficulty level of the study material*a constant).

[0098] With the above equation, as the difficulty level increases, thereference speed decreases accordingly. In this embodiment, the referencespeed tracks the difficulty level of the study materials.

[0099] As discussed above, by monitoring the speed of the student'sinputs, the system 100 can provide an indication of the student'sconcentration. Thus, one rule is as follows:

[0100] If the speed of the student's volitional inputs across apredetermined period of time is significantly lower than the referencespeed, the student has lost concentration in the study materials.

[0101] In one embodiment, the predetermined period of time is twominutes; and more than three times slower is considered as significantlylower.

[0102] In another embodiment, the study materials are presented througha multi-windows environment. The student enters inputs into the system,such as through a position-pointing device, like the mouse 182, orthrough the keyboard 176. In one embodiment, the sensor 110 in thisembodiment is implemented through software, which periodically, such asevery two seconds, polls the operating system or the device drivers ofthe position-pointing device. The polling determines if there have beenany inputs. Writing such software to monitor such inputs to the systemshould be obvious to those skilled in the art, and will not be furtherdescribed in this application. In such an embodiment, one rule is asfollows:

[0103] If for a predetermined period of time, the inputs have beenentered outside the window where the study materials reside, the studenthas lost concentration in the study materials.

[0104] In yet another embodiment, the study materials are presented in awindow environment that has a focus window, and the sensor 110 can sensethe focus window, for example as in the above embodiment. In such anembodiment, one rule is as follows:

[0105] If the study materials are not in the focus window for apredetermined period of time, the student has lost concentration in thestudy materials.

[0106] In one embodiment, the predetermined amount of time is more thanone minute. If monitoring is performed every three seconds, in oneminute, the system would have performed 20 measurements.

[0107] In yet another embodiment, the sensor 110 senses another type ofvolitional behavior, which is based on the student's face. In thisembodiment, the monitor 178 presents study materials. The sensor 110including the digital camera 180 are positioned adjacent to the monitor178, as shown, for example in FIG. 2A. With the camera positioned whereit is, when the student is looking at the monitor to work on the studymaterials, the digital camera 180 could take digital images of thestudent's face. Taking the digital images to generate numerous bits ofdata should be obvious to those skilled in the art and will not befurther described in this application.

[0108] To improve the performance of this embodiment, before the step ofmonitoring, the present invention includes the step of calibrationthrough imaging. One calibration technique enters the student's imagebefore the student works on the study materials, and uses that image asthe reference to compare with other images. For example, before thestudent starts working on the study materials, he is asked to look atthe monitor 178 with a message box having a message such as “LOOK ATME,” and with a picture of two eves staring at the student. Then, thedigital camera 180 takes a reference image of the student's face, whotypically looks at the two eyes.

[0109] The reference image should be analyzed. That image includes notonly the student's face, but also background information, such as thewall of a room. In one embodiment, the controller assumes that thestudent's two eyes are looking at the two eyes in the monitor. Based onthis assumption, the student's face is determined. Such imagerecognition techniques are disclosed for example in “ComputerRecognition of Human Faces,” written by Takeo Kanada, and published byBirkhauser Verlag, Basel and Stuttgart, in 1977. Even if the distancebetween the monitor and the student's face increases, the relativedistances among different features on his face remain the same. In oneembodiment, the monitoring step focuses on relative distances tore-calibrate the student's face. Such image recognition techniquesshould be obvious to those skilled in the art, and will not be furtherdescribed in the present application.

[0110] One type of facial information is the facial orientation (box304). The controller 104 connected to the digital camera 180 calibratesthe facial orientation when the student is looking at the monitor 178.This reference image could be just the oblong shape of the face. Aftercalibration, when the student starts working on the study materials, thedigital camera 180 regularly captures the facial image, such as onceevery few seconds. All information in that image is removed leavingbehind the orientation of the face. These orientations are compared withthe reference image to check for differences. The distance between themonitor and the student's face may change. To compensate for suchchanges, in one embodiment, the controller uses the ratio of the longesthorizontal to the longest vertical distance of the oblong shape. If thecaptured facial orientation is significantly different from thereference facial orientation, the student is not looking at the monitor.The student may be looking away from the computer or drooping whilefalling asleep. In such an embodiment, one rule is as follows:

[0111] If the student's facial orientation is significantly differentfrom its reference image as shown in two consecutive monitoringprocesses, the student has lost concentration in the study materials.

[0112] In one embodiment, two images are considered significantlydifferent if their horizontal-to-vertical-distance ratios differ by morethan 20%.

[0113] Another type of facial information is the condition of the eyes(box 306). If the eyelids are covering significant portions of theirises, the student's eyes are closing. In such an embodiment, one ruleis as follows:

[0114] If the eyelids cover more than 60% of the irises as shown in twoconsecutive monitoring processes, the student has lost concentration inthe study materials.

[0115] Another type of facial information is the student's facialexpressions (box 308), such as whether the student is frowning or not.In such an embodiment, one rule is as follows:

[0116] If the student frowns in two consecutive monitoring processes,the student is concentrating on the study materials.

[0117] Concentration-sensitive behavior can be involuntary. In oneembodiment, the sensor 110 monitors the sizes of the student's pupils,assuming that a student's pupil dilates if the student loses focus andconcentration. In such an embodiment, one rule is as follows:

[0118] If the average size of the student's pupils dilates by more than20% as compared to the average size of the reference image for apredetermined amount of time, the student has lost concentration in thestudy materials.

[0119] Other examples of involuntary concentration-sensitive behaviorinclude the student's heart beat, breathing rate, body temperature andwhether the student's sweat has increased. With appropriate sensors andrules, these involuntary behavior can be monitored to provideindications on whether the student has lost concentration in the studymaterials.

[0120] There are many other types of concentration-sensitive behavior.Different types of behavior coupled with their corresponding sensors andrules should be able to indicate the student's concentration level.

[0121] More than one type of the student's concentration-sensitivebehavior can be monitored by one or more sensors. In fact, one type canbe volitional, with the other type involuntary. Including differenttypes of behavior tends to increase the accuracy of identifying thestudent's concentration level. With more than one type of behavior beingmonitored, the system may not have to monitor each type of behavior morethan once to identify the student's concentration level. An example of arule for such an embodiment is as follows:

[0122] If the student's facial orientation is different from thereference image by more than 20% while the student's eyelids arecovering more than 60% of the irises, the student has lost concentrationin the study materials.

[0123] Such rules should be obvious to experts in the field of humanperception, and will not be further described in this application.

[0124] The above embodiments describe whether the student has lostconcentration or not. However, the invention is also applicable toindicate the student's degree of concentration, such as ranging fromlow, medium to high. For example, if the student has not lostconcentration in the study materials for a long period of time, thestudent's concentration level is high. Another example is that if thestudent's eyes are wide open with his inputs through the mouse movingdown the study materials in a fairly constant speed for a long durationof time, such as five minutes, the student's concentration level is alsohigh.

[0125] In another embodiment, if the controller 104 decides that thestudent has not lost concentration for a long period of time, such asten minutes, the controller 104 averages the captured results duringthat time frame—with outlying points removed—and treats the averagedresults as the reference, which will be used to compare with subsequentcaptured results, to determine if the student has lost concentration inthe study materials. The reference can be a reference image, such as thestudent's face, or the student's input speed, as appropriately modifiedby the study materials' difficulty level, or other monitored results. Asthe student continues working on study materials, this reference can beupdated regularly by averaging it with subsequent captured results,which also show that the student has not lost concentration. Unlike manyof the previously described references, which are static, this type ofreference is typically not a constant, and is known as a dynamicreference. It is usually more closely tailored to the student. With moredata used to generate the dynamic reference, its accuracy is typicallybetter than the static references.

[0126] In yet another embodiment, the system 100 asks for the student'sidentity, such as the student's name, when the student starts working onthe study materials. After the student enters his identity, it is storedin the system 100. The student's reference information, whether staticor dynamic, is stored with the student's identity in the memory of thesystem 100, such as its harddisk. After the first working session, ifthe student wants to work on study materials through the system 100again, the system retrieves from its memory the student's referenceinformation. For such an embodiment, the retrieved reference informationcan replace the step of calibration. If the reference is of the dynamictype, the retrieved information is regularly updated.

[0127] Based on one or more of the above concentration-sensitivebehavior coupled to one or more appropriate rules, the indicator 114provides an indication on the student's concentration (step 258), or thestudent's degree of concentration. Such indication can be as simple aschanging the state of a register—a high logic level indicates thestudent has not lost concentration, while a low logic level indicatesthe student has. Another indication can be printing a report indicatingthat the student's degree of concentration in the study materials for aperiod of time.

[0128] In one embodiment, the system reacts according to the indication(step 260). Some examples of reactions include stimulation, rewards,punishments or changing the study materials.

[0129] If the indication is that the student has lost concentration inthe study materials, one way the controller 104 can help the student tore-focus on the study materials is through stimulation. This includespresenting a real-life application of the study materials that thestudent has lost concentration in. The stimulation can be through sound.It can be visual effects, including changing the screen temporarily andthen restoring to the previous screen.

[0130] Another type of stimulation includes allowing the student to playa game. This stimulation is applicable if the student has been workingon the study materials for a long duration of time, and should have abreak. Thus, after the student has worked for a long period of time,such as 45 minutes, and is losing concentration in the study materials,the controller can pose the student a question, such as, “Do you want totake a break and play a game?” If the student wants to, in oneembodiment, the controller accesses a game from the study-materialsstorage medium, which includes a number of games. The game serves as adiversion. Not only does it distract the student's mind for some time,the game also relaxes and entertains the student. After the game,presentation is resumed on the study materials.

[0131] Another form of reaction is a reward. If the student has beenconcentrating for a long period of time, at the end of a section in thestudy materials, the system reacts by praising the student audiblythrough a speaker, or visually through the monitor with words like “TIMEFOR A SNACK!” Other examples of rewards include playing a short piece ofmusic, presenting a joke, a factoid on an interesting subject, orplaying a short animation or video clip.

[0132] A further form of reaction is punishment. This includesgenerating a report indicating that the student has lost concentrationfor a long period of time so that the student's supervisor can punishthe student accordingly. Another punishment may be an audible reprimand,such as “PAY ATTENTION!”

[0133] The system can also change the study materials according to themonitored results. If the student has lost concentration in working onthe study materials for a predetermined amount of time, the system canreact by changing the study materials to a different set of materials.Also, the presenter 106 may change the presentation style accordingly,such as by reducing the speed of presentation through increasing theline spacing of the text or the size of the image to present to thestudent.

[0134] In yet another embodiment, due to the indication, the system asksthe student a question. This question can stimulate the student, andhelp the student to re-focus in the study materials. Typically, thequestion is based on the study materials just presented to the student.

[0135] As a side note, while the controller 104 through the sensor 110monitors the student's concentration-sensitive behavior, the controller104 can also track the corresponding study materials being presented tothe student. Such an embodiment has the added benefit of tying theindication with the corresponding study materials presented to thestudent.

[0136] Back to the embodiment that asks the student a question, thisembodiment can be achieved, for example, through the selector 102sending to the study-materials storage medium 108 the line-item root ofthe study materials just presented. From the line-item root, a set ofquestions with the same line-item root is retrieved, and one of thosequestion is randomly selected for the student. Other ways may be used togenerate a question on materials just presented to the student. Onesimple way is to randomly select a sentence that has just been presentedto the student, and change the syntax of that sentence into a question.

[0137] The embodiment on asking questions has a number of benefits. Evenif the student does not know the answer to the question, typically, thestudent is stimulated by the question. Also, the question can be used toassess the student's understanding level on the materials just presentedto the student. After the student answers the question, if the answer iscorrect, the controller 104 can praise the student appropriately. If theanswer is not correct, the student may not understand what has just beenpresented. The controller 104 has a number of options. For example, thestudy materials just presented can be presented to the student again;the location as to where he can find the answer to the question can bepresented to the student; the location of the answer can be hyperlinkedto the location of the wrong answer if the student activates an iconshown on the presenter 106; the presenter 106 presents study materialsthat are easier than the one just presented to the student, such as onewith a lower difficulty level; or the presenter 106 can resumepresenting, and ignore the wrong answer altogether.

[0138] The above embodiment on asking questions can be modified to focuson increasing the student's concentration level. FIG. 5 shows such anembodiment 350. The system presents (step 352) study materials to thestudent. Then, the system asks the student a question unexpectedly (step354). As an example, if the study material is presented through themonitor, unexpectedly, the entire screen changes. From a screen of studymaterials, the system suddenly changes the screen to display a question.The unexpected nature of the change, together with the displaying of thequestion stimulate the student. To further enhance the effect ofstimulation, the system can spell out the question while displaying it.Typically the question is based on the study materials the student hasbeen working on. After the student responds to the question, the systemresumes (step 356) presenting the study materials to the student.

[0139] The question stimulates. Right before the question is presented,the student may be concentrating or may not be concentrating. Eitherway, the student, unlikely to be aware that a question is coming, issuddenly confronted with a question. Independent of whether the studentknows the answer, the question typically increases the student'sconcentration level. Also, responding to a question is an activelearning approach, as compared to the passive learning approach ofreading. The more active learning approach together with the unexpectednature of the question tend to increase the student's memory retentionin the subject matter covered by the question.

[0140] Another benefit provided by the question is that the student'sanswer to the question provides an indication on the student'sunderstanding level in the study materials. As described above, if theanswer is wrong, the system can go over that part of the studymaterials, or can reduce the difficulty levels of the study materials tobe presented to the student. In another embodiment, the question is justfor increasing concentration; the system ignores the answer, andcontinues on with the presentation.

[0141] The student might have stopped working on the study materialsaltogether. For the embodiment that monitors the student's inputs, ifthere is no inputs for a predetermined amount of time, such as tenminutes, the system assumes that the student has totally stopped workingon the study materials.

[0142] The present invention teaches sensing through different types ofnon-intrusive sensors, which are defined as sensors that do not causethe student physical pain and suffering when they are sensing thestudent's concentration-sensitive behavior. As technology progresses,sensors that are intrusive today can become non-intrusive in the future,for example, sensors that monitor the student's brain waves, which canbe a type of concentration-sensitive behavior.

[0143] Rules are stored in the rules storage medium. However, in oneembodiment, the rules have previously been embedded in the softwareimplementing the present invention. With rules already embedded in thesoftware, there is no need for accessing the rules, and there is no needfor the system to have the rules storage medium.

[0144] In the above embodiments, the student's behavior is monitoredmore than once before the step of analysis. In another embodiment, themonitoring step and the analysis step are intermixed. Instead ofmonitoring more than once and then analyzing the results, in thisembodiment, the sensor monitors one type of behavior, with the resultanalyzed. Then the sensor monitors the same or a different type ofbehavior, with the result analyzed.

[0145] In yet another embodiment, the steps in the present inventionrepeat. For example, after the step of reacting according to theindication (step 260) or providing an indication (step 258), theinvention repeats from the step of monitoring automatically (step 254).In this embodiment, study materials are continually presented to thestudent, although the study materials might be changed due to thereaction (step 260).

[0146] The rules discussed can be self-adapting. In other words, thecontroller 104 can change a rule after applying the rule to a number ofsituations and after analyzing the results. This can be done, forexample, in a fussy-logic system.

[0147] Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art from a consideration of this specification orpractice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that thespecification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with thetrue scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the followingclaims.

We claim:
 1. A computer-aided-educational method for educating a studenton a subject through a computer, which includes a presenter and anon-intrusive sensor, the method comprising the steps of: presentingstudy materials on the subject to the student through the presenter;monitoring automatically more than once the student'sconcentration-sensitive behavior through the sensor while the student isstudying the materials; analyzing the monitored results based on one ormore rules; and providing an indication on the student's concentrationlevel based on the analysis.
 2. A computer-aided-educational method asrecited in claim 1 wherein for the step of monitoring, more than onetype of the student's concentration-sensitive behavior is monitored. 3.A computer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 1 wherein forthe step of monitoring, the behavior monitored is of the same type.
 4. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 1 wherein thestudent's behavior is volitional.
 5. A computer-aided-educational methodas recited in claim 4 wherein the type of behavior includes thestudent's volitional inputs.
 6. A computer-aided-educational method asrecited in claim 5 wherein: the sensor monitors the speed of thestudent's inputs; and one rule is that if the speed of the student'svolitional inputs across a predetermined period of time is significantlylower than a reference speed, the student has lost concentration in thestudy materials.
 7. A computer-aided-educational method as recited inclaim 6 wherein whether a decrease in speed is significant or notdepends on the difficulty level of the study materials.
 8. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 5 wherein: thestudy materials are presented in one or more windows of a multi-windowenvironment; the study materials reside in at least one of thosewindows; and one rule is that if, for a predetermined amount of time,the student's inputs are not in the one or more windows displaying thestudy material, the student has lost concentration in the studymaterials.
 9. A computer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 5wherein: the study materials are presented in a window environment witha focus window; and one rule is that if the study materials are not inthe focus window for a predetermined amount of time, the student haslost concentration in the study materials.
 10. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 4 wherein thevolitional behavior is based on the student's face.
 11. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 10 wherein beforethe step of monitoring, the method comprises the step of calibrating thestudent's face to generate a reference image.
 12. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 10 wherein thebehavior includes the student's facial orientation.
 13. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 11 wherein onerule is that if results from two consecutive monitoring of the student'sface are different from the reference image, the student has lostconcentration in the study materials.
 14. A computer-aided-educationalmethod as recited in claim 10 wherein the behavior includes thecondition of the student's eyes.
 15. A computer-aided-educational methodas recited in claim 10 wherein the behavior includes the student'sfacial expression.
 16. A computer-aided-educational method as recited inclaim 11 wherein: the sensor includes a camera; the presenter includes amonitor; and the step of calibrating includes asking the student to lookat the monitor.
 17. A computer-aided-educational method as recited inclaim 1 wherein the student's behavior monitored is involuntary.
 18. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 17 wherein thebehavior includes the size of the student's pupils.
 19. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 1 furthercomprising the step of reacting according to the indication provided.20. A computer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 19 whereinthe reaction includes punishing the student for losing concentration inworking on the study materials.
 21. A computer-aided-educational methodas recited in claim 19 wherein the reaction includes stimulating thestudent to re-focus on the study materials if the student has lostconcentration in the study materials.
 22. A computer-aided-educationalmethod as recited in claim 21 wherein if the student has worked on thestudy materials for a pre-determined amount of time, the reactionincludes allowing a student to play a game and then resuming back to thestudy materials.
 23. A computer-aided-educational method as recited inclaim 19 wherein the reaction includes changing to a different studymaterials to present to the student.
 24. A computer-aided-educationalmethod as recited in claim 19 wherein the reaction includes asking thestudent a question.
 25. A computer-aided-educational method as recitedin claim 24 wherein the study materials to be presented to the studentdepends on the student's response to the question.
 26. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 24 wherein thespeed of presenting the study materials to the student depends on thestudent's response to the question.
 27. A computer-aided-educationalmethod for educating a student on a subject through a computer, whichincludes a presenter, the method comprising the steps of: presentingstudy materials on the subject to the student through the presenter;asking by the computer, the student a question, when the student isunlikely to expect a question; and resuming presenting study materialson the subject to the student through the presenter; such that theunexpected nature of the question stimulates the student to enhance thestudent's concentration level in the study materials.
 28. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 27 wherein thestudent's answer to the question does not affect the study materialsresumed to be presented to the student.
 29. A computer-aided-educationalmethod as recited in claim 27 wherein: the student's answer to thequestion provides an indication on the student's understanding level inthe study materials presented; and the difficulty level of the studymaterials resumed to be presented depends on the indication.
 30. Acomputer-aided-educational method as recited in claim 1 wherein for thestep of monitoring, between two consecutive monitoring of the student'sconcentration-sensitive behavior, the method further comprises the stepof analyzing the monitored result based on one or more rules.
 31. Acomputer-aided-education method as recited in claim 1: furthercomprising the step of determining a reference for the student; andwherein the step of analyzing includes the step of comparing thestudent's monitored results with the reference to identify the student'sconcentration.
 32. A computer-aided-education method as recited in claim31 wherein the reference is a dynamic reference, which incorporatesmonitored results indicating the student has not lost concentration inthe study materials.
 33. A computer-aided-educational method as recitedin claim 31 further comprising the steps of: establishing the student'sidentity; and storing the identity with the reference to be used by thestudent in the future.
 34. A computer-aided-educational system foreducating a student on a subject comprising: a presenter for presentingstudy materials on the subject to the student; a non-intrusive sensorfor monitoring more than once the student's concentration-sensitivebehavior while the student is studying the materials; a controller foranalyzing the monitored results based on one or more rules; and anindicator for providing an indication on the student's concentrationlevel based on the analysis.
 35. A computer-aided-educational system asrecited in claim 34 wherein the student's concentration-sensitivebehavior is volitional.
 36. A computer-aided-educational system asrecited in claim 34 wherein the student's behavior is involuntary.
 37. Acomputer-aided-educational system as recited in claim 34 wherein thesystem reacts according to the indication provided by the indicator.